Muhammad Zidan fahmi ( XI MIPA 2)

CHAPTER 5

A STORY TO REMEMBER
Short stories are shorter than novels because they usually only tell about one
incident. Like novels, short stories entertain or amuse the readers. The modern
short stories have appeared since the early 19th century. Short stories are one
example of narratives. Like other narratives, short stories have the following
structure.
1. Orientation (It introduces the main characters and the setting, both the time and
the place.)
2. Complication (This part introduces a problem the main characters face.)
3.Resolution (The main characters find a solution for their problem.)
4. Coda (This part gives evaluation and points out morals of the story.)

The Elements of Short Stories

1. CHARACTERS
In a short story, a main character becomes the centre of the story with a conflict
revolving around him/her. This character will be the protagonist of the story and
characters standing on the opposite side will be the antagonists. To build the
characters, a writer describes them by picturing their appearance and/or explaining
their behaviour or feelings, as well as having other characters talk about them.
2. SETTING
Setting tells readers about the time and place the story happened, This is an element
that is hard to be left out in makingba story.
3. PLOTS
Short stories usually have one plot so readers can finish it in one sitting. A plot has
four essential parts:

 Introduction
 Rising actions
 Falling actions
 Result of a situation
4. Theme
Theme is something that the writer wants to convey and deliver to the readers. The
theme of a story sometimes can be seen from the title and may be represented
through the use of figures of speech, such as symbol, metaphor, simile, hyperbole,
5. Conflicts
Without a conflict, a plot won’t develop, meaning there will be no stories. Conflicts in
stories can be either external conflicts (conflict with a force outside oneself) or
internal conflicts (conflicts within oneself). Conflicts are not always things that
someone has against each other. Conflict may happen between man and
circumstances, society, or himself.
6. Point of Views
The common points of view used in stories are the first person and omniscient. In
the first person point of view, the writer becomes one of the characters in the story.
The writer only knows and feels from this person’s view. A writer with omniscient
point of view is an outsider of the story. He/she is not a character in the story, but
the narrator in the story. He/she may know everything about what a character think
and reveal it to the readers as in omniscient limited, but may only know what he/she
sees or hears as in omniscient objective.

Revisi your writing based on your friends’ feedback

SUMMARY

Social function: to entertain the reader with a story that deals with complications or
problematic events which lead to a crisis and in turn find a resolution
Text organization:
Orientation sets the scene-where and when the story happens-and introduces the
participants of the story-who and what are involved in the story.
Complication tells the beginning of the problem which leads to the crisis (climax) for
the main participants.
Resolution is when the problem (the crisis) is resolved, either in a happy ending or
in a sad (tragic) ending.
Re-orientation is a closing remark to the story and it is optional. It contains morals
or advice from the writer.
Note:
Sometimes, a writer makes a judgment on a certain participant or a certain event.
This is called evaluation.
Eg. Once there lived a girl named Snow White. She was a kind-hearted girl.
Evaluation

Language features

 Nouns: travelers, bundles, tree, road, etc.

 Pronouns: they, their, its, it, etc.

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  Noun phrases: the rough and dusty road, a big old tree, etc.
 Time connectives and conjunctions: one day, a week later, then, a long long
time ago, when, etc.
 Adverbs and adverbial phrases: angrily in horror, etc.
 Material processes (action verbs): arrived, ate, eat, went, laughed, etc.
 Verbal processes (saying verbs): asked, replied, etc.
 Direct/indirect speech: “Look! What a useless, ugly old tree! So big and yet it
bears no fruit at all!”
 The past tenses (the simple past, the past continuous, the past perfect): they
looked for a shady tree; they were walking; they ran away, etc.”